Another law (like SB1062 and SB1070) that cost us

A skeleton wears a sign for the Independent Payment Advisory Board during a referendum rally drive on Medicaid expansion at the State Capitol Building in Phoenix on June 22, 2013.(Photo: Patrick Breen/ The Republic)

Tags

SB1062 is only the latest symptom of the disease of political extremism that has reached epidemic proportions at the State Capitol.

Unfortunately, those who are most seriously afflicted with the illness control the Arizona legislature.

The Republicans who passed SB 1062 have been the driving force behind a number of pieces of legislation that do nothing to solve a problem, do everything to spur a lawsuit and wind up costing Arizona taxpayers a ton of money before being tossed by the courts.

It happened again Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court is refused to hear the appeal of an Arizona law that would have disqualified abortion providers from receiving funding for other medical services they provide.

A judge and an appeals court already said this law wouldn't fly, but Attorney General Tom Horne kept pressing the case.

The law was designed at an attack on Planned Parenthood. It is a violation of state law to spend state or federal money on elective abortions. The new law would have prevented Planned Parenthood (and others who perform abortions) from receiving public funds for services that aren't abortion related.

Back in November, when Horne asked the Supreme Court to take the case, Planned Parenthood's CEO Bryan Howard said, "This litigation has already cost the state of Arizona approximately $279,000 in legal fees alone, which is what it would cost for Arizona to provide clinical breast exams or cervical-cancer screenings to thousands of AHCCCS patients. It will cost the state even more to litigate its petition to the Supreme Court."

The Republicans who control the legislature don't care about the cost. It's not their money being wasted. It's yours.

There is no vaccine to prevent extremism.

But there are two cures. One is common sense, which can be difficult to administer.